A Loveland man accused of poaching deer, pronghorns and a black bear, and illegally trapping other animals, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in a halfway house after taking a plea deal.

Paul Detwiler, 28, was given the maximum sentence under the agreement with prosecutors and was required to turn himself in to community corrections the same day, according to the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office.Detwiler pleaded guilty in July to four charges, including one felony of illegally possessing a gun and three lesser charges, out of 24 charges initially filed against him. He had been accused of poaching a bear, at least two mule deer and six pronghorns and using banned traps to catch and kill raccoons, skunks and other wildlife.Detwiler was arrested in January after he and undercover game warden Robert Pope went hunting together several times, according to court documents. He told 9News in May that he was set up and that he went along with Pope’s suggestions.Pope reported that he and Detwiler went hunting several times late last year, trips on which Detwiler boasted of killing a 200-pound black bear near Weston, shooting six deer in a week, and killing three pronghorn despite having a license to kill only one.

Court documents show Pope brought Detwiler and his family Wendy’s cheeseburgers and they exchanged multiple text messages over several weeks. The warden also swore in an arrest affidavit that Detwiler was able to illegally purchase an AR-15 rifle from a Loveland pawn shop despite his felony conviction. Pope also documented Detwiler hunting geese with illegal lead shot. More....